The Dangerous Seduction Read Online Free PDF Page B

aware of it on a physical level, of feeling it deep down in the pit of his stomach like a hot tug.
    His mind drifts suddenly back to Duane’s wedding reception and Duke Grayson listing into him with foggy eyes and pawing hands. The memory makes his gut twist up in a way that isn’t at all pleasant, and he drops his eyes to where his hands are joined on the table, to the place on the third finger of his left hand where his wedding band will be one day. He tries to conjure up Daisy’s image in his head, to remember the look on her face when she’d said yes to him, but his brain is refusing to cooperate. He takes a gulp of wine.
    It’s just because he’s the boss , he thinks. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just because he’s the guy with all the power, the guy that can make or break Ryan’s future career. He’s the guy who’s hopefully going to teach Ryan everything he knows, the guy who recruited him—picked him—over everybody else. It’s just because he’s grateful to Joseph and he’s flattered that he got picked out of all those other people who sent their résumés to Chase Mackey Van Aardt, and Joseph is an impressive guy, has already accomplished so much at his age, anybody would be in awe of him. And yes, objectively speaking, the man is attractive. It’s one of those undeniable statements of fact. Everybody knows it. Even Liza herself asked him out to dinner because she wanted to get in his pants. Anyone would be impressed by being wined and dined by Joseph Van Aardt. It doesn’t have to mean anything. It’s not like the dumb teenage thing with Duke Grayson, or like those other times with those other guys.
    Besides, even if Ryan might have a stupid little guy crush on his boss (which he’s pretty sure he totally doesn’t have), it doesn’t mean that anything’s actually going to happen. He’s got Daisy and she’s a great girl and he loves her and they’re engaged.
    “How old are you, Ryan?” Joseph asks after the waiter’s vanished once more with their order.
    “I just turned thirty-two, a month back,” he answers.
    “Pretty old for you to be only on your second job, only three years qualified. What have you been doing all this time?”
    “I retrained,” he says. “I didn’t study law the first time I was in college.”
    “I bet you were one of those kids who could never figure out what they wanted out of life,” Joseph says. He’s still smiling, though it’s that unpleasant smile again, the derisive note to his voice giving Ryan no illusion as to what Joseph really thinks of kids who “could never figure out what they wanted out of life.” Ryan’s first instinct is to defend himself, not everyone is a mini-megalomaniac-in-waiting, knowing exactly what they want to do with their life from the moment they leave the womb, but he thinks better of it.
    “No, I knew exactly what I wanted, except it didn’t work out. It’s all on my résumé.” He thinks of Joseph’s words to him in that strange interview at the Ritz Carlton: Everyone’s hiding something, Ryan… what are you hiding? “I’m not hiding anything,” he adds, catching and holding Joseph’s gaze.
    Joseph must remember that conversation too because he nods his head, his expression half-ironic, half-impressed. “I never read résumés. I’m not interested in how well people can bullshit on paper; I want to see them bullshit to my face. So, what were you doing before you went into law?”
    “I wanted to be an actor.”
    “Really?” Joseph sits back in his chair, quirks up one eyebrow. “Interesting.”
    “I trained in theater at college. I was even in a couple of plays. Like, Off-off-Broadway. It was my dream. Well, it used to be.”
    “So, why’d you change your mind?”
    He hesitates, then goes for the truth. “Honestly, I was never that good at it. Not good enough to be successful or rich or famous. And I wanted—I want to be rich and successful. I’m not bothered about the fame part, but I do want